Marie Wilkins, who has had to have amputations as a result of smoking, will be a guest speaker at Reality Check's event.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- You want scary?

Staten Island Reality Check is adding a dose of, well, reality to the list of things that can give you a fright.

The youth-driven campaign against the tobacco industry is hosting “The Scary World of Tobacco” Saturday at the Joan and Alan Bernikow Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, 1466 Manor Road, Sea View, from 6 to 10 p.m.

There will be music, refreshments and a real-life horror story by guest speaker Marie Wilkins whose life was changed drastically by her cigarette smoking. In addition, Reality Check teens will put on a performance to demonstrate how the tobacco industry targets youth to start smoking and what they can do to get involved.

Ms. Wilkins began smoking in high school with her friends.

“It was the thing to do,” says Ms. Wilkins. “We thought it made you look older.”

She worked as a key punch operator for a brokerage firm at a time when you could smoke at your desk. It was easy to go through two packs a day.

The mother of two tried to stop more than once over the 40 years that she smoked. However, it was not until she developed Buerger’s disease, a vascular disorder that severely restricts circulation in the hands and feet, that she eventually kicked the habit. The painful disease can result in infection or gangrene, and for Ms. Wilkins, it led to amputations.